A Quick History - Volkswagen and the Beetle

For four decades, the Ford Model T (1908-1927) held the record for world car production. Between 1972 and 1973, the Volkswagen Beetle broke it.

Volkswagen Logo

Volkswagen is currently the top German automobile manufacturer and second in the world behind General Motors. The company was originally founded by the German Labour Front, a Nazi trade union. At the time it was introduced, Germany's car market was almost entirely luxury vehicles and only motorcycles were cheap enough for the public to afford. One out of 50 Germans owned a car. A car for the people was demanded.

1939 Volkswagen Beetle Prototype

However, Volkswagen couldn't make it for the low cost Hitler was calling for, so Hitler developed a savings plan. A customer would put in 5 marks a week and the government would give them a car when they saved enough. 336,000 people took part in this program and all of them lost their savings in 1945 when Berlin was seized by Russia.

The Beetle was developed for this program but only a few were made before 1939, at the start of World War II. None could be delivered to the customers partaking in the savings plan. During the war, they switched to military vehicles and were mostly commonly known for the Bucket Car utility vehicle. Common to many German companies during the war, Volkswagen did employ slave labor, taken from the concentration camps.

Volkswagen Kubelwagen

The factory was completely bombed in 1945 and captured by American forces. They handed it to the British and they placed British Army officer Major Ivan Hirst, REME in charge. Hirst would be credited with saving the company from destruction. He first used the factories for military vehicle maintenance. Soon after though, he pained one of the cars green and showed his Army superiors. They were in need of small cars and placed an order for 20,000. They were given to personnel and the German Post Office. When Britain left Germany, some of them took their Beetles.

1946 Volkwagen Beetle

In 1946, Hirst's Volkswagen was producing a thousand cars a month. It's funny because the factory was still damaged and they actually had to trade some of their new cars for steel to continue production. Hirst went on to offer the factory to several car companies around the world, but they laughed in his face at the Beetles' design. They claimed it would fail, it wasn't worth a damn, and he was a fool. Volkswagen would go on to become a large part of Germany's economic recovery. Hirst would leave the company in 1949 as the West Germany government took control.

Volkswagens were first sold in the United States in 1949 but only two units were sold. In 1955, it rose sharply to one million Beetles sold. Although it is constantly called a Beetle or a Bug, it was never actually called that officially by the company. It had always really been called “Type 1”. In 1973, 16 million beetles were produced and Volkswagen could claim the world production record for most produced single car make in history. During this time, the company expanded and bought the Audi company.

1972 Volkswagen Beetle

However, Volkswagen ran into trouble in 1973 when Beetle sales declined. This was when their purchase of Audi really came in handy, as that company's technology saved Volkswagen. In the next few years, their designs became very similar to other European vehicles.

Volkswagen continues to grow, expand, and buy new companies and introduce new models. In 2012, the Passat NMW won the 2012 Motor Trend Car of the Year. 

2010 Volkswagen Beetle - Click to see!

Sources: Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Volkswagen, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Volkswagen_beetle; How Stuff Works http://auto.howstuffworks.com/1945-1959-volkswagen-beetle1.htm; Phil Seed's Virtual Car Museum, http://www.philseed.com/taxonomy/term/65; Dirmalta, http://www.dirmalta.com/item/volkswagen-malta/; Old Trucks and Pictures, http://oldcarandtruckpictures.com/VW/